Chapter 20
Bianca’s first request came when Emma was nine.
Not for contact.
For permission to send a letter.
Sophia’s answer was no.
Immediate.
Claire did not argue.
Raffaele did not either.
That surprised Sophia.
“You agree?”
“Yes.”
“No speech about forgiveness?”
Raffaele looked offended.
“I am capable of restraint.”
Claire coughed.
Sophia ignored both.
Bianca’s attorney replied:
Understood.
Nothing else.
A year passed.
Then Emma asked about Bianca herself.
Not because of the request.
She did not know about it.
A school assignment asked students to describe a time something was repaired.
Emma wanted to write about the dress.
Sophia hesitated.
“Why that?”
“Stripe.”
“You have other things.”
“My bike got fixed.”
“Yes.”
“Boring.”
Fair.
Emma wrote:
My dress got cut when I was little. A lady fixed it with a stripe.
Sophia read the draft.
“A lady fixed it?”
“The sewing lady.”
“Right.”
For one second, Sophia had assumed Bianca.
Memory remained fast.
Emma continued.
“Why did Bianca cut it?”
The question had existed before.
Now she wanted more.
Sophia explained.
Age appropriate.
Bianca believed lies Gregory told her.
Bianca became angry.
Bianca chose to cut Emma’s dress.
“Because cheap?”
“Yes.”
“But not cheap.”
“No.”
“Would she cut if cheap?”
Sophia thought.
“I don’t know.”
Emma frowned.
“That’s weird.”
“Yes.”
Then:
“Did she say sorry?”
Sophia became quiet.
“She sent me a statement years ago.”
“About me?”
“Partly.”
“Did she write me?”
“She asked recently if she could.”
Emma looked surprised.
“You said no?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t want an adult apology becoming something you had to carry before you asked for it.”
Emma thought.
“Can I now?”
Sophia’s stomach tightened.
Raffaele was not in the room.
Good.
This belonged to Sophia and Emma first.
“We can talk to Dr. Patel.”
Emma rolled her eyes.
“Therapy answer.”
Apparently everyone learned sarcasm.
The process took weeks.
No urgency.
Bianca was allowed one letter.
Reviewed first.
No request for forgiveness.
No request for meeting.
No explanation blaming Gregory.
She wrote:
Emma,
I cut your dress.
Gregory lied to me about your mother and about the dress.
I chose to believe him because I was angry and embarrassed.
Then I chose to take scissors to something you were wearing.
You were three years old.
Nothing about what I believed made that acceptable.
I am sorry.
Bianca.
Emma read it twice.
Then:
“She says Gregory lie.”
“Yes.”
“But she still did.”
“Yes.”
“Both.”
Sophia looked at her.
“Yes.”
That distinction again.
Emma wrote no answer.
Three months later she wrote:
I READ YOUR LETTER.
Nothing more.
Bianca sent no response.
That mattered.
The repaired dress remained in storage.
The letter went into the same box.
Emma chose that.
Not because the objects were equal.
May you like
Because both belonged to the same part of her childhood.
For now.
